Nathan Vredevelt Info & Update Post

by TheTinfoil on Mar 4, 2009 10:21 PM PST

Here's the link to the Blazers web site regarding donations for Nathan's accident. The basic facts are Nathan has Down's Syndrome, got separated from his supervisors, and tried to cross I-5, presumably on foot, and was hit by one or more vehicles.

Kudos to the organization for helping. Please post updates if you hear any. Since this may be the only time I have work-related knowledge of something relevant to the Blazers, here's some info I posted in the game thread way way after the game ended.

In Oregon, if a person is hit as a pedestrian and does not have insurance, they can claim the medical benefits available to the driver of the vehicle that hit them. It's called "no-fault medical," meaning insurance will pay even if the policy holder did nothing wrong. Since no-fault medical is mandatory for auto policies in Oregon (meaning if you have auto insurance, you have medical coverage on the policy), the minimum amount available to him would be $15k, and could be up to $100k depending on how much insurance the vehicle (or vehicles) had. In addition, for medical providers in Oregon, there is a cap on each charge that is legally allowed for each service (much like your health insurance is allowed to "cut" the bill due to a pre-arranged agreement with the provider, except this is state mandated, and only applies to workers comp and auto claims). So, his bills will likely be reduced by the Oregon fee schedule when the car insurance pays the bill, and the provider would not legally be allowed to balance bill the kid. That, in addition to the donated money, should help out a lot. If he was hit by two vehicles, he would have two different policy limits available to him, even if neither of the drivers did anything wrong.

I hope that makes everyone feel a little bit better. I worked in auto-medical claims for a few years recently before switching to 3rd party claims, and Oregon has the 2nd best medical coverage in the country for autos (Michigan has no limit on their medical coverage, and no time limit for how long they will pay. Oregon's medical statute is one year).

All this is assuming that the cars that hit him have insurance. Fingers crossed!

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Comments

Thanks for the clarification

I dontated also.

There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.
Paul Muad'Dib - Dune (Frank Herbert)

My Translation: My Dad is a dude just like me, and my sons are dudes like me also. I love that.
Season Tix: Section 315, with my sons

by johnv59 on Mar 4, 2009 10:27 PM PST reply actions

PS

I was at that game. It made me so sad to hear about this later on.

There is probably no more terrible instance of enlightenment than the one in which you discover your father is a man — with human flesh.
Paul Muad'Dib - Dune (Frank Herbert)

My Translation: My Dad is a dude just like me, and my sons are dudes like me also. I love that.
Season Tix: Section 315, with my sons

by johnv59 on Mar 4, 2009 10:28 PM PST up reply actions

Can anyone explain to me...

…why this kid attempted to cross I-5?

by JordanLeDoux on Mar 5, 2009 12:22 AM PST up reply actions

Ah, Down's Syndrom...

…nevermind.

I’ll see if I can get $10 together…

by JordanLeDoux on Mar 5, 2009 12:24 AM PST up reply actions

I mean no disrespect

but how he different than the millions of other people in this country with serious health problems and no insurance or money? They all need help. National health insurance FTW.

by pualo on Mar 4, 2009 10:29 PM PST reply actions

Well. I get your point

But the difference is that he was at the Blazers game when he wandered away and was hit.
That’s the Blazers’ angle, which makes sense.

by Section323 on Mar 4, 2009 10:36 PM PST up reply actions

National health insurance

has many, many, many drawbacks. Believe me, I live with it.

You solve some problems and create many others. If you want national health insurance, you really need to find out the problems it creates first. You might end up changing your mind. Or you might end up trying to structure it in a way that helps prevent some of those problems, and end up with a better system as a result. But in any event, it isn’t a panacea to all the problems.

Just saying.

When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.

by jscot on Mar 4, 2009 11:49 PM PST up reply actions

I tend to think along these same lines.

I think in this instance, the manner of the accident and his specific circumstances in regards to his health and family situation make this a little more rare. WIth that being said, there is absolutely no question that the American Health care system is completely revamped. I dont really think Single payer system is going to happen however providing low cost hc to everyone will happen and needs to happen.

Sophia

Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. - William Shakespeare

Roses are red
violets in bloom
Sophia’s in love
with Nicholas Batum
-Bow4Meow

by BlazerFan1 on Mar 5, 2009 10:04 AM PST up reply actions

According to the post-game show

$14k was raised by the fans….$10k from Blazers…additional $10 from his church…..plus the info here. Nearly $35k in cash plus benefits from auto insurance.

"You're welcome friend
I love you."
- Tom "Dragline" inHawaii

by 92wastheyear on Mar 4, 2009 10:33 PM PST reply actions

Here's a very good article that has a lot more information.

Nathan was watching the game from a suite in the RG, and went to go to the bathroom and ended up wandering down to the floor level, out of the arena and onto the freeway.

Link

Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.
-- Richard Dawkins

by TheTinfoil on Mar 4, 2009 10:34 PM PST reply actions